BIR vows to double its collection effort this year

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), the government’s main tax agency, has committed to double its collection efforts this year to meet its revenue goal of P845 billion.

Internal Revenue Commissioner Lilian Hefti said the bureau’s 19 regional directors and 115 revenue district officers have agreed to adopt measures to achieve the goal.

Earlier, the BIR had asked Finance Secretary Margarito Teves to reduce its revenue goal for the year following its dismal performance last year.

The BIR collected only P711 billion last year, below the P765 billion revenue goal.

Hefti and other top BIR officials, however, already agreed to work on meeting the P845 billion goal this year.

Among the measures the agency is looking at are the continuing post-evaluation of cash-register and point-of-sales machines of establishments and the implementation of computer-assisted audit.

The agency will also intensify its Run After Tax Evaders program, enhance voluntary compliance through benchmarking and improve human resource development.

Furthermore, the BIR would also intensify its tax mapping operations and step-up efforts against non-filing taxpayers.

To enhance awareness on the agency’s programs, the BIR also intends to continue its tax dialogues with various industries.

Hefti said the bureau would also fast-track the investigation of taxpayers with pending letters of authority, assess taxpayers with letter notices regarding deficiency taxes and clean-up its registration databases.

The BIR chief also rallied her field officials to discover other ways and means that would be helpful in their collection campaign such as bringing in more taxpayers into the revenue stream.

Possible targets the BIR is considering are foreign nationals doing business in the country and mining companies.

Electronic gaming industries and companies engaged in timber and tiangge operations are also being eyed by the BIR for new taxes.

Hefti urged her field officials to double or triple their collection efforts as she assured commitment of the top management’s full support to their tax campaign programs.